Chen Na, wearing protective gear specially tailored to her height and build, rode the elevator upward with five other tall, imposing individuals.
Because she wasn't very familiar with the five of them, she stood sowhat awkwardly in the corner.
But this situation didn't last more than a few seconds. Soon, the only woman among the five walked over, bent down, and smiled at her.
"Little sister Chen Na, can I call you Xiao Na from now on?"
Chen Na nodded. "Okay. May I ask how I should address you, sister?"
"My code na is 'Silver Fox'. You can call
Sister Silver Fox."
"Understood, Sister Silver Fox."
"So well-behaved~"
Silver Fox gently patted Chen Na's head and said with a laugh.
"Don't be nervous. Sister and those four scary-looking uncles are all good people~ We'll protect you when we're on the mission."
"Hey, Silver Fox, that's enough," Black Shark said unhappily. "You call yourself 'sister' but call the four of us 'uncles'!"
Silver Fox laughed. "What, you four rough guys want a little girl to call you 'big brothers'?"
Black Shark looked speechless. Flying Eagle chuckled and interjected, "Night Owl is younger than you, Silver Fox. If you're a sister, then he's definitely a brother."
Night Owl, wearing thin-rimd glasses, glanced up before burying his head again to fiddle with the electronic device in his hands, clearly not wanting to get involved in such a pointless argunt.
Captain Dragon Soul spoke up at this point. "Silver Fox, we'll be operating alongside elite troops this ti. Don't make inappropriate jokes then. The troop commander definitely won't be happy."
Silver Fox shrugged. "Understood."
Dragon Soul then turned to Chen Na. "Little sister Chen Na, when the ti cos, stay with your Sister Silver Fox. She'll protect you if there's danger. Absolutely do not run off on your own."
Chen Na nodded. Although the others still saw her as a child who needed looking after, in reality, after experiencing so much, her ntality was now far more mature than her peers.
She knew she was going on a mission this ti and might need to use her abilities, so she would take it seriously.
Even though she was still young, she already understood the principle of "equivalent exchange."
If Dr. Zhang Minglu hadn't valued her abilities, he wouldn't have kept her and arranged a job for her mother in a base of this level—sothing countless people outside couldn't even dream of obtaining.
Precisely because she understood this, she had agreed without hesitation when Dr. Zhang asked for her opinion, consenting to join this operation with First Squad to provide assistance.
The six of them took the elevator up to a massive preparation room on the ground level. Here, large groups of soldiers were already lined up in formation, fully equipped and ready to go.
This was the first ti Chen Na had seen so many soldiers outside of television, and she was quite shocked.
Even Black Shark from the Dragon Soul team was surprised. Looking at the several neat rows of troops, he muttered to Dragon Soul, "Captain, this many people for this operation? That's the strength of a reinforced armored battalion, right... Whoa, there's even anti-air firepower. Have flying Nightmare Beasts been confird now?"
"Keep your comnts to yourself, Black Shark. Don't forget our mission this ti," Dragon Soul said. "We're going deep into the fog for investigation. Having more personnel is appropriate."
After saying this, Dragon Soul went to briefly communicate with the troop commander. Afterwards, everyone boarded vehicles and, under the commander's orders, officially set off.
...
Sowhere in the Suroma Empire.
Four won with high noses and deep-set eyes pushed open a door and entered a room. The walls and floor of the room were filled with all sorts of mystical props—tarot cards, turtle shells, bells, ritual knives... the list went on.
Behind a long table sat a woman, curled up in a chair, her entire body shrouded in a long blanket embroidered with starry patterns, only her overly pale face dotted with a few freckles visible.
When the four won entered, this woman rely lifted her eyelids for a glance before imdiately lowering her gaze to continue staring at a crystal ball on the table. Inside it was a deep blue, moon-shaped key.
"Adam," one of the four won called softly toward the door. "Co in. It's indeed that diviner, 'Moon Key'."
"Apologies for disturbing your peace~"
Adam, with shoulder-length golden hair and a slender build, entered the room, showing a very respectful attitude toward the woman behind the long table.
This displeased the four won. They believed Adam was the strongest Ascendant in this country and had no need to be overly humble to so charlatan.
The woman behind the long table glanced at Adam upon hearing this and spoke. "What... is the matter?"
Her voice was very hoarse, and her speech was oddly stilted, as if she was unpracticed from not speaking for a long ti.
Adam said, "I've co to ask you, the renowned diviner Moon Key, for help in prophesying the situation regarding the ninth mode rule. It's strange, sohow, ever since this rule was announced, my mind has been restless."
"Prophecy requires... consuming a lot of Mind Power. I have not... recovered yet," the woman called "Moon Key" stamred.
"I've already considered that."
Adam took out two bottles of dicinal items and placed them on the table.
"One bottle's effect is to temporarily increase the Upper Limit of Mind Power. The other instantly restores all Mind Power."
The woman nodded, accepted the potions, and used them.
Then she stared at the crystal ball in her hands, murmuring sothing under her breath.
Before long, the deep blue key inside the crystal ball she held emitted a faint light and began to rotate.
The woman closed her eyes, seemingly receiving guidance from the key. This process lasted a full five minutes. As the key stopped rotating, the woman opened her eyes.
She looked at Adam, but her pupils seed unfocused, as if staring into emptiness. "I saw... a door. An open door, hidden deep within the fog. Inside the door leads to... a terrifying world. Monsters, countless monsters are erging..."
A door?
The four won exchanged glances, not understanding the specific aning.
Adam, however, nodded seriously. "Thank you for the prophecy." Having said that, he took out several more precious items and placed them on the table as a token of gratitude.
Then he left the room, and the four won imdiately followed.
"Adam, is that fortune-teller's nonsense really useful? She's not just spouting nonsense, is she?"
"Yeah... those items you gave are worth hundreds of thousands of Ascension Coins. Is it really worth it?"
"Worth it," Adam said noncommittally. "Make preparations. I'm going deep into the fog."
"Adam, you're going to explore the fog? That's too dangerous. Will His Majesty permit it?"
Adam smiled gently. "Do I need the king's permission for what I do? Have you forgotten?"
"...Understood, Adam. We'll make the preparations imdiately."
...
Guan Tong walked through the fog.
He had no leads for now on where the fog's origin was. He simply walked on his own while simultaneously releasing several shadow lines.
These shadow lines spread out in all directions from him as the center point. Their purpose was singular: to find clues about the fog's origin.
Before long, he heard a strange sound coming from the fog to his left. He imdiately realized the sound was coming from above.
Whoosh!
A Nightmare Beast that almost blended with the fog suddenly descended from the sky, its sharp claws aiming for Guan Tong's chest!
Guan Tong reacted quickly enough, his finger pulling the trigger. A single Type 2 slug shot out.
"Thump! Crack!"
There wasn't one explosion, but two.
The first was the sound of the slug hitting the Nightmare Beast. The second was the sound of the Nightmare Beast exploding on its own.
Guan Tong witnessed with his own eyes how that headless Nightmare Beast, with only a pair of wings and a cylindrical body with four sharp claws, self-destructed like a balloon after being shot!
No flesh, no blood, no fur. After exploding, the Nightmare Beast seed to be swallowed by the fog, disappearing without a trace in an instant.
Witnessing such a bizarre creature up close, even knowing it was from an Alien Planet, Guan Tong still felt extrely unsettled inside.
Such creatures that defy common sense and human cognition create an indescribable sense of psychological dislocation upon close contact.
Fortunately, its defenses weren't great. A single Type 2 slug resolved it smoothly, which gave him so confidence.
He made his way down the mountain and discovered the campsite that originally belonged to Yu Hong and Zhao Yu at the foot of the mountain. Those two...
Thump! Thump!
Suddenly, a series of powerful ground-shaking sounds rang out, interrupting Guan Tong's train of thought. Hearing the sound, he imdiately looked toward its source and transferred the Shadow's vision from that direction to himself.
He imdiately saw a giant Nightmare Beast walking through the thick fog!
It had a full five legs. It seed to have no feet; the end of each leg was just a flat, circular surface of a cylinder. Looking up along the legs, he couldn't see the top. Just the height of a few legs exceeded several ters—the limit of visibility. The rest of its body was completely hidden in the dense fog, impossible to discern.
Guan Tong recalled the [Biological Signal Detector] sold in the Ascension Store. What it must be detecting is precisely this kind of giant Nightmare Beast.
...Should he avoid such a monster?
Guan Tong didn't have much desire to fight. Within the visible range, just five legs were two or three stories tall. Its true size was utterly impossible to estimate.
If such an enemy noticed him and attacked, Guan Tong felt running was the only option.
He instinctively wanted to distance himself from such a colossal Nightmare Beast. But then, upon second thought, listening to the "thump, thump" stomping sounds of the giant beast, he suddenly realized sothing.
He manipulated the Shadow in that direction to look down. Sure enough, he discovered footprints left by the Nightmare Beast on the ground.
This imdiately gave Guan Tong an idea: the origin of the fog should be the place where Nightmare Beasts appear. So, as long as he followed the footprints left by this giant Nightmare Beast backward, walking to the end of the footprints should lead him to the fog's origin!
Having thought of this, he imdiately changed direction. To avoid attracting the giant Nightmare Beast's attention, he deliberately took a wide detour to reach the side of the footprints. Then he began walking along the direction of the footprints.
He recalled the shadow lines from other directions, focusing on extending them in this single direction, hoping the Shadow could discover the location of the fog's origin faster than he could.
However, hoping for the Shadow to provide early warning was impossible—because he had already discovered that the outer skin of Nightmare Beasts seed like soft armor, and its color was almost identical to the color of the fog.
This resulted in humans having extre difficulty distinguishing or seeing the existence of Nightmare Beasts within the fog unless they moved.
The Shadow's Five Senses didn't possess special abilities; they were identical to Guan Tong's own. What Guan Tong couldn't discover, the Shadow couldn't discover either.
He followed the footprints forward, remaining vigilant at all tis against potential attacks from Nightmare Beasts. As for which direction he was heading, he had no idea. He had been completely disoriented since entering the fog.
After walking like this for about seven or eight minutes, Guan Tong heard another faint noise coming from behind him. He imdiately turned around and saw a bizarre, humanoid Nightmare Beast with a head, torso, and limbs charging toward him!
"Bang!"
Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger of Silver Hunt. This ti, he used Type 1 buckshot. With one shot, several pellets struck the humanoid Nightmare Beast, forcing it back two steps before its body exploded and dissolved into the fog.
The mont the Nightmare Beast exploded, Guan Tong clearly saw its face. Although it was mostly corroded, he still recognized it. A violent wave of nausea almost made him retch.
It was Yu Hong's face!
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